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Saturday, 31 October 2015

This is my card for this week's Muse: ChristmasVisions challenge where we have two inspiration cards from our Guest Muse, Birgit.

I decided to try to include elements of both cards in mine:
- square card (second)
-frame (second)
-black die cut element on the left side (first)
-blue sponging (second)
-colours on the image inside the frame (second)

I pulled out some old favourites - Stampin' Up's Both-Way Blossoms and A Muse Handwritten Sentiments. I stamped them in Tip Top Taupe and then shaded the flowers with soft pink and green copics before adding a tough of Stickles for some sparkle.

Wednesday, 28 October 2015

Today is my final post as Paper Smooches October GD (sniff, sniff!). I've got two cards to show you.

My first one is pretty tradtional - I started by cutting a white panel as a square and then cut the bottom off using the bottom die from the Large Ornament die (I saw Nina-Marie do something similar last week). I inlaid the Merry Christmas die into that and then stamped a sentiment from Holiday Cheer. I cut some pine sprigs from the Wreath Builder die in two colours of green and laid them onto the panel to emphasize the curves of the bottom of the white panel. Then I cut some berries from the Holly Dies (both the 3-berry cluster and a single berry to dot my 'i'). They are all coated in Christmas Red Stickles.

Tuesday, 27 October 2015

For my card, I used CAS-ual Fridays Stamps In the Cards stamp set and matching dies to create my Aces. I know there's a lot of layers on this card and usually we say to limit layers in CAS design, but I think because there is so much white space, it still feels very clean!

And now it's your turn! Be sure to check out the rest of the DT's blogs for more inspiration:

Welcome! Last week, I was lucky enough to be featured in Kelly Latevola's CASEing Genius. Today I'm participating in a special Blog Hop to thank Kelly. It's being organized by Marika and Nina-Marie and includes all the 'Geniuses'!

We've all chosen 3 of Kelly's cards to CASE as a tribute to her very special Genius!

On Thursdays and Fridays, CASology is featuring the DT's craft spaces.

I've done this a couple of times before (see the page 'Craft Room' at the top of my page) so I thought I'd just show you a few things I've changed since last time.

The photo above gives you a view of my main workspace. All through my crafting life, I have wanted all my supplies visible and within reach. I didn't want to forget that I had anything! I don't know why, but lately I've been feeling claustrophobic and have been working to get stuff either put away or sold.

The cubby that sits in front of me on my desk has my black inks, blocks, coloured inks, copics, scissors, glues - things that I reach for almost every time I make a card.

I have also taken my laptop off my desk - it takes up space and I find it distracting.

On my desk is now only one stack of small drawers - from top to bottom - masking supplies, stamp positioning, distress inks (see below) and pre-cut Gina K 120 lb square card bases. Next to that is an old paper organizer with un-cut Gina K cardstock. My MISTI and foam tape are to the right. The bin of stamps and dies on top of the paper organizer is all my Paper Smooches products - handy for my October Guest Designer posts!

The distress inks fit perfectly in this drawer and that makes it easy to take a long when we get together on our stamping days.

The other major change I've made is to move all my coloured cardstock (I know, it's embarrassing - I'm not buying any more for a long, long time!) under my desk. It gets it out of the direct light and frees up shelf space.

Wednesday, 21 October 2015

I'm back for my 3rd week as October Guest Designer for Paper Smooches. Have I mentioned how much fun I'm having? Only about a million times? Good!

For this card, I used the Large Ornament die. There are two pieces so you can adjust your ornament in lots of different ways. I liked the shape of the short ornament, but I wanted a little more detail, so I cut the bottom again in pink. I used the string from Holiday Lights Dies to create my loop and the leaves and berries are from Holly Dies.

I love shiny ornaments that catch and reflect the lights on the tree, so using foiled cardstock seemed like a natural choice. But as you know, it's not easy to photograph! I usually like to use natural light, but I pulled out my Foldio light tent, thinking I might have more luck.

Just for fun, here's a neat effect I got when the little LCD lights reflected on the card stock.

My second card for today uses the new Comforting Hugs set and matching dies along with a sentiment from the Holiday Cheer set. I added tiny hats from the My Peeps set. I created a background by sponging Tumbled Glass ink around a mask created from one of the Big Bloom Dies. To make it really frosty, I coated the whole panel in Stardust Stickles. This warped the panel a little, so I went with that and left it lifting a little from the edges, almost like the paper itself is getting into the hugging too. (Too corny? lol!)

Tuesday, 20 October 2015

I hope you're ready for a little Hallowe'en fun! This week's CASology Cue Card is Zombie!

I've seen cardmakers transform their people and animal stamps into zombies by changing their eyes, but I went old school and dug out Frank, from Stampin' Up's old Booglie Eyes set. I coloured him with Copics and added glossy accents to his yellowed eyes. I then masked him and sponged the night, keeping it pretty rough to make it look more spooky. I paired him with an altered MFT sentiment - it really says "Our Friendship keeps me walking on sunshine".

Keeping all the action in the middle of a white card helps to keep this card CAS.

Now it's your turn. I can't wait to see what you'll come up with for this one!

Make sure you check out the rest of the DT's blogs for more inspiration:

Sunday, 18 October 2015

Here is my card for this week's MCV Challenge, where Chriss has given us a card with this frosty winter scene:

I don't always CASE the Muse cards this closely, but I knew I had just the right Paper Smooches supplies (I've been looking at them A LOT lately, as October Guest Designer!).

My friend Emily made the sweetest card with this snowman die last year - it's what prompted me to buy it. I found it a little fussy to inlay the eyes, nose and mouth, but it turned out so cute that I think it was worth putting on my new, old-lady 'see-up-close' glasses! lol!

Thursday, 15 October 2015

As you can imagine, I've got all my Paper Smooches stamps and dies close at hand this month as I make cards for my stint as October Guest Designer. So it was easy (don't look in my recycling bin!) for me to come up with a card to play along with the current Sparks challenge photo:

I combined a partial sentiment from Holiday Cheer with the fireworks from Metropolis. I added some Stardust Stickles, and layered up a couple of pierced squares from MFT to finish it off.

Wednesday, 14 October 2015

Welcome to my second post as October Guest Designer for Paper Smooches (I LOVE saying that!). I've got two cards for today!

For the first card, I used the round Garland die to create an ornament. I cut it 5 times, using some Doodlebug DP. I folded each one carefully on the score line and then glued them together to create a 3 dimensional ornament. I edged the circles in Stardust Stickles for some sparkle. I used the ornament cap from the Large Ornament Die cut in silver foil, and the string from Holiday Lights cut in the same Doodlebug purple as my mat.

For my sentiment, I combined two different stamps from Holiday Cheer, stamping one in Ranger Grape Soda and the other in Versafine onyx.

I also want to link up (it's the last day!) to the Hop to Stop. It's to raise awareness of domestic violence and the resources available to people who are experiencing it. October is Domestic Violence Awareness month and their colour is purple - head over to see the whole gallery full of amazing, purple cards!

I love the almost "Suessian" feel of these holly leaves and I played that up by colouring them in Grinch-y greens. But these work equally well on a very elegant card - check out how Emily used them here! My leaves and berries were coloured with Copics, Wink of Stella and Glossy Accents.

Tuesday, 13 October 2015

This week's CASology Cue Card is You! (notice the new, ultra CAS design? Melissa surprised us all with a new 'look and feel' for CASology this week, make sure you check it out!)

Lots of us find masculine cards difficult to make. Our stamps, paper and embellishments are often so 'pretty'! CAS is a perfect style for cards for the men in our lives - simple colours, graphic designs, clean lines and minimal embellishments work well for masculine cards!